Steve frowned, glancing at Bucky briefly before looking back to the road. "Maybe they're not sure how to talk to you, after what you've been through. They might be trying to give you distance, not push you away." Of course, he didn't know for sure, and he didn't know anything about Bucky's friends, either. But was it really fair to write all of them off, just like that? "It might be worth being the person who reaches out first." Not that he'd push, but he'd just suggest it. That was all.

"Well, maybe retaking that year will give you a chance to figure things out," Steve suggested, trying to smile a bit. "No one expects you to have a plan overnight. And if they're smart, no one will expect the plan you have to still apply now." Because things like this could change a person, and that was just the way it worked.

He was, though, starting to suspect that Bucky wanted to actually get a dog. "Uh-huh," he said, not sounding convinced, as they turned onto the street where the shelter was. "Okay. We're just going to look."